April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean internet giant Kakao Corp. on June 1 denied recent reports that it is selling a 30 percent stake for 500 billion won (US$442 million) in its push for mobility services such as KakaoTaxi and KakaoDriver.

“We are still reviewing several ways to grow our online-to-offline services but nothing has been decided yet,” the KOSDAQ-listed company said in a filing to the local authorities. 

In April, media reports said the company would spin off its mobility service business unit and sell a 30 percent stake in the new entity to private equity firms.

KakaoTaxi, the taxi-hailing service, has secured 14 million users over the past two years, with the total call number exceeding 330 million. Unlike Uber that has yet to secure a footing here due to resistance from taxi drivers, the Korean service has teamed up with some 290,000 cab drivers.

Along with KakaoTaxi, the mobility business unit operates the premium version KakaoTaxi Black and chauffer service KakaoDriver.

Despite popularity among users, the platform service has seen little profits since its launch in 2015 as it is offered free of charge.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)